Gamely Giving is to battle sleep in a 48-hour charity Twitch marathon challenge

Press release:
Committed video gamers Gamely Giving are gearing up to burn the midnight oil during the weekend of 26-28 February 2016 to raise money for people with disabilities.

Instead of the usual 24-hour period that people attempt during GameBlast, the UK’s largest gaming marathon weekend, the team will be trying to double this period and play video games continuously for 48 hours. They’re aiming to raise £1,000 for the charity SpecialEffect, who use technology to help people with disabilities benefit from the fun and inclusion of video games.

Gamely Giving are looking for sponsors for their marathon. You can watch this team of friends, streamers and video game journalists live on Twitch (http://www.twitch.tv/gamelygiving/) throughout the event from 13:00 GMT on Friday, 26 February 2016.

“Playing for 24 hours is a pretty big challenge, but we’re asking people to attempt it to help the thousands of people who, because of a disability, can only sit and watch other people have all the fun with family and friends,”said Mark Saville, the charity’s Communications Officer.

“GameBlast is an opportunity for people to do what they love best and level the playing field for people with disabilities at the same time.”

So far over 100 teams of friends, family members and work colleagues have signed up to the GameBlast event. The weekend is backed by big names in the games industry including Twitch, Jagex and GAME.

“Gamely Giving’s efforts will help people like Sam (http://bit.ly/19dEyIR), who never thought he’d be able to play video games because his spinal muscular atrophy prevented him from using a controller,” said Mark. “The sponsorship raised through the GameBlast weekend will change the lives of many more people like Sam through the gift of gaming fun and inclusivity.”

Anyone can sponsor the team online at https://www.justgiving.com/gamelygiving2016/. More details on the GameBlast event can be found at http://www.specialeffect.org.uk/gameblast.